Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 369
Finally of course, everyone who did not directly participate, but who was possibly a
neighbour, or from the wives' families, brothers-in-law and their families were also present.
They had all dressed up for dzum zugune, the biggest public event to take place in Dghweɗe.
We have already learned, from our description of har daghile, how the course of the bull
festival was timed so that all the representatives of the various extended families could take
part in a way that did not disturb their own performance plans.
Figure 22 : Key stations of dzum zugune in Ghwa'a
1 - Fkagh Dzga (jahurimbe pots for ngwa hamtiwe novices were counted here)
2 - Fkagh ga Maruwa (the ngwa hamtiwe performed their four days dance here)
3 - Fkagh Gwatadhe (second stage ngwa garda started their downhill race from here)
4 - Yawa (ngwa garda changed here into ngwa kwalanglanga for their uphill dance)
5 - House of thaghaya of Ghwa'a (ngwa kwalanglanga danced and continued to Fkagh Ɓag Haya)
6 - Fkagh Ɓag Haya (wives of ngwa kwalanglanga threw flour over their dancing husbands)
7 - House of rainmaker (ngwa yiye gathered for fstaha and to plant spear into ritual dunghole)
8 - Fkagh Bak Zalika (bak zalika dressed in their war gear gathered here in triumph)
9 - Sarara (the place where the young and hopeful, who had not yet started dzum zugune, danced)
We see that Fkagh Dzga (1) is at the beginning of the upper plateau called Dzga, which is at
about 900m above sea level. The foot of the mountain is at about 500m. We have not marked
the heights separately, but will refer to them in the course of this section, also to show the
importance of physical fitness. This was particularly apparent in the downhill race of the
ngwa garda, in which the participants of stage two of dzum zugune took part. In the context of
this, we think that the place Fkagh Gwatadhe (3), where the race started, was somewhere
above 1000m, while Yawa (4), where the race ended, was perhaps a little under 700m. We
further infer that the distance between Fhagh Gwatadhe and Yawa was about 4 km over
terraced fields and rocks, with a height difference of perhaps 300m to 400m, and the
participants of this downhill race had to negotiate this.
At Yawa (4), the ngwa garda changed into ngwa kwalanglanga by putting on a different
dress with the help of their ritual assistants, and advanced uphill and danced, stopping at the
house of the thaghaya (the seventh born and lineage priest) for the whole of Ghwa'a (5),
which was quite high up towards Durghwe at about 1200m. In the course of this, they stopped
at several places, but the house of the thaghaya of Ghwa'a was mentioned to me as a key stop.
After they had danced at his house, they continued across the upper slopes of Durghwe and
reached a flat place called Ɓag Haya (6). There their wives showered them with guinea corn
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